


Christmas sweaters and Mom's advice

by SRassier



Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Christmas Party, Family Bonding, Family Feels, Luther and Five have the best parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-01-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:34:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22191880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SRassier/pseuds/SRassier
Summary: Five and Diego rummage through Reginald's office to find out who their real mothers are. Luther and Five set out to find theirs. Christmas fluff ensues.
Relationships: Allison Hargreeves/Luther Hargreeves (not the main focus)
Kudos: 54





	Christmas sweaters and Mom's advice

Allison let herself sink down into one of the more comfortable chairs in the Hargreeves’ family living room. She took a sip from her mug of hot chocolate and sighed. It had been a very long day and she was happy to finally be sitting somewhere quiet. She and her siblings were back in New York following a press tour around the country talking about the Umbrella Academy being back together and it was exhausting. She took another sip and let the hot drink warm her up as she closed her eyes to take in the silence and serenity of her evening.

A loud bang brought her out of her silent contemplation. She got up and headed toward the sound. As she got closer to her father’s former study, she heard more banging around and then the voice of her brother, Number Five. “It’s got to be here somewhere, the old bastard kept records of everything.” Allison poked her head into the room to find a disaster of sorts. Books and papers thrown all over the floor and Five and Diego sitting right in the middle of the mess, both looking intently at files before throwing them to the side and grabbing another handful to sift through.

“What is going on in here?”

Diego looked up from his search while Five ignored the question all together, his head down, eyes glued to the file he was holding. “Uh,” He said, “we’re looking for something.”

“Yeah, I gathered. What exactly are you looking for?”

“Our mothers.” Allison’s mouth dropped as Diego went back to his search.

“You think he has that information? I just figured Dad bought us and went about his business.”

“He has it.” Five mumbled as he threw one pile of papers down to replace it with another on his lap. “I’m sure he was going to use it to manipulate us at some point in time, but he never got the chance.”

Allison stepped further into the room, walking toward an unopened cabinet. “Have you checked this one yet?” Her brothers both shook their heads, so she opened it up and joined the search. As she looked, she asked the two men on the floor, “Why so interested now?”

Diego looked up at her, “it was that woman today.” Allison knew immediately what he was talking about. During their interview, the lady running it kept harping on the fact that they had a cold, calculating father and a robot mother, and how could that translate into a real childhood. Then she asked them what happened to their real mothers. When none of them had the answer, the interview got real awkward, real fast.

Five suddenly stopped his franticly flinging of papers and took a singular red file in his hand. He stood slowly and without looking up from the pages he said, in nearly a whisper. “I got it.” Allison and Diego rushed over to him and tried desperately to look over his shoulder as he read; “Olga Smirnov-$5,000, Emily Cheong-$5,000, Rosa Guerrero-$5,000, Eleanore Aster-$5,000, Kristina Morana-$5,000, Minerva Valentine-, and there’s no number for that one. These must be our mothers and how much he paid for us.”

Diego scrunched up his brow,” That’s only 6, where’s the last one?”

Allison grabbed the file out of Five’s hand, flipped to the next page and continued.” Olga Smirnov, Kirishi Russia. $5,000, Number 7.” She suddenly closed the file without finishing.

“What the hell?” Five tried to grab the file from her and she pulled it out of his reach.

“Wait. The others should be here. They have a right to be part of this too.”

Five and Diego nodded and the three of them planned to meet in the kitchen in 10 minutes with all their siblings for the rest of the information that they had found.

Allison paced back and forth in front of the refrigerator to keep herself from looking at the rest of the file. ‘Everyone deserves this,’ she kept repeating. It seemed like hours before the rest of the clan started filing into the room and took seats around the table. Five was the last to come in and he told her in a matter of fact voice. “They’ve all been filled in, you may proceed.”

She picked up the file, flipped to the second page, took a deep breath and started again. “Olga Smirnov, Kirishi Russia, $5,000, Number 7.” Vanya inhaled sharply at the mention of her number and sat silently waiting for Allison to continue. “Emily Cheong, Incheon South Korea, $5,000, Number 6.” Klaus looked over at Ben and saw him silently mouthing the words, ‘Emily Cheong.’ “Rosa Guerrero, Pachuca Mexico, $5,000, Number 2.” Diego sat stoically, but Allison saw a small smile threaten to sneak through the hard exterior. “Eleanore Aster, London England, $5,000, Number…” Her voice caught in her throat, “3.” She swallowed hard and continued. “Kristina Morana, Zagreb Croatia, $5,000, Number 4.” She looked at Klaus and smiled. “Minerva Valentine, Saratoga Springs New York, and there’s no number...”

Allison stopped reading and stared at the paper as if physically unable to continue. The rest of them sat still for what seemed like an eternity before Klaus broke the silence. “Come on, tell us who was given away for free…My money’s on Luther.” He laughed until looking into Luther’s eyes and realizing that maybe the big guy didn’t find it nearly as funny.

“Well?” Five didn’t realize he was sitting on the edge of his chair until this very moment, he slid back so he wouldn’t fall off it. Allison looked at Luther, then at Five, then buried her eyes in the paper before repeating, “Minerva Valentine, Saratoga Springs New York, Number 1…and Number Five.”

The room stayed still. Everyone afraid to break the silence, not knowing exactly what to say. All eyes were alternating between Luther and Five, waiting for one of them to do something. Anything. Finally, Five stood up, looked around at the faces staring at him in disbelief, and stepped backward, vanishing into a flash of blue. Luther looked at his siblings and finally spoke. “Well, shit.”

Five was thumbing through a physics book when Luther knocked on his slightly open door. He poked his head in and spoke carefully, “Five?”

“Busy. Go away”

Ignoring his protest, Luther stepped into the room. “We need to talk about this.”

Not looking up from the book, Five calmly said, “there’s nothing to talk about.”

“Seriously? We just found out that we’re twins…I think that’s kind of a big deal.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“if it isn’t a big deal, why’d you run away to your room?”

“I wanted to read this book.”

Luther walked over and sat next to Five on the bed, the mattress sagging under his bulk. “You mean one of the books in your room that just yesterday you were complaining were ‘too stupid for you’?”

Five sighed and closed the book on his lap. “The old man is terrorizing me from beyond the grave.” He reached a hand up to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. “If I wasn’t so pissed, I’d be impressed.”

“What do you mean, terrorizing? I think it’s great news.” Five turned to look at Luther in disbelief. They had never seen eye to eye, both figuratively and literally, and now Luther was acting like he was happy to have Five as his actual brother.

“Great news for you maybe.” Five stood up and started pacing around the room. “Me? I always thought that when I found my family someday, I’d find a gaggle of geniuses. People to share my theories with and have intellectual conversations. Now I find out that I may be the only smart one and I’m screwed.”

Luther stood up in a huff and stepped in front of Five, stopping his pacing. “You know what Five? You’re a dick.” He walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

A few hours later, Luther was occupying himself by cleaning up the study. As he stood the bookcase back up and started to put the books back on it, there was a soft rap on the door frame behind him. He turned to see Five standing in the doorway, hands in his pockets, expressionless.

“Busy.” Luther threw Five’s words from earlier back in his face. “Go away.”

Five took a step into the room and closed his eyes, tipping his head back and sharply taking in a breath. Letting it out slowly, he looked at his brother and finally spoke. “Look. The way I acted earlier was…wrong.” Luther stopped what he was doing and gave his full attention to what may be the first time Five apologized in his life. “I didn’t mean to insult you, I just…got carried away with my irrational fantasy about having a normal family and finding out any one you was blood, well…” he trailed off and looked down at the floor before pulling his hand out of his pocket and producing a folded up piece of notebook paper. “Just wasn’t part of the fantasy.”  
  


“What’s that?”

Five walked over and handed Luther the paper and stepped back as he opened it. “I went to the library. I figured as a sort of apology, I’d…”  
“You found her?” Luther looked up from the paper

“Yeah. Turns out, she never left Saratoga Springs. She still lives there.” Five watched his brother for his reaction. “We could be there in 3 hours.”  
“If she even wants to meet us.”  
“There’s only one way to find out.” Luther looked back down at the paper and saw that in addition to an address, there was a phone number. Five continued, “I’ll leave it up to you. I won’t go without you. We both go, or neither of us go…you choose.”

Luther reached up and wiped away a tear that threatened to leak from his eye. “I’ll call.”

Allison was putting the finishing touches on what she promised the family would be ‘the perfect Christmas tree’ when Luther came into the room, Five right behind him, carrying Delores. She stepped back to admire her work and asked, “What do you think?”

“It’s great.” Luther clearly had other things on his mind. He had been a nervous wreck ever since the first phone call with his mother. She was incredibly excited to hear from them and immediately invited them to come up for Christmas. Luther didn’t know what to say so he said yes and ended the conversation.

For the next week, Luther spent every minute he could on the phone with his mother. They talked about their lives and Luther tried to explain everything so she wouldn’t be shocked when they showed up at her door. Five spent the entire week mumbling under his breath something about ‘big, dumb, ape’ whenever Luther was within earshot.

This animosity was what caused Allison to wonder why they were suddenly together to talk to her. “What can I do for you gentlemen?” She got a smile out of Luther which was a good start.

“Well, as you know, Five and I are going to head out in a couple of days to go see our…” Allison noticed that all week, neither of them seemed to be able to say the word, ‘Mom.’

“Yeah.”

“Um. She told me on the phone that we should bring our families.” Luther kept his eyes on the floor as he spoke. “You know, wives and kids and stuff.”

“Uh huh.”

“Five thought.” Five loudly cleared his throat behind him. “Well, Five and I were thinking. That there’s safety in numbers and maybe you could come with us.” He looked up sheepishly as Allison smiled her sweetest smile.

“Of course, I’ll come.” Luther let out a sigh of relief at the thought of not only having Allison there, but also not being stuck in a car for three hours alone with Five.

“Great! I’m going to go start packing.” He rushed out of the room, failing to hide his blushing face.

Allison nearly turned back to the tree until she realized that Five didn’t leave. “You ok?”

“I also have a favor to ask you.” Five was much more confident than Luther, a fact that Allison thought was even funnier due to Five looking like he was a teenager and Luther looking like a guy who shouldn’t be afraid of anything. “I’d like you to take Delores shopping.” Allison raised her eyebrows, speechless. “I’d like her to have something nice to wear when she meets my mother. This is her only shirt and it’s full of bullet holes. I don’t want to freak anyone out.” Allison couldn’t help but think ‘I don’t think the bullet holes would be the weirdest thing about Delores meeting your mom.’ He set Delores down on a chair and smiled before turning around. As he walked out of the room, he called back over his shoulder. “I trust you completely!” Allison looked over at the mannequin and shook her head. “What the hell?”

Luther was right. Having Allison in the car made the trip much more bearable. Five insisted on driving, against heavy protests, which put Luther in the back seat. Normally, taking back seat to a mannequin would have really pissed him off, but Allison being there made it ok. They happily chatted in the back while Five drove, not saying a word.

When they finally arrived at their destination, Five pulled down a very long driveway that led to a huge house surrounded by a grove of trees. As they got closer, they all noticed there was 6-7 cars scattered around the driveway and parts of the lawn. “Shit.” Five muttered under his breath.

Luther leaned forward so his face was in the middle of the front seat. “They have an awful lot of cars.”  
“It’s a Christmas party idiot.” Luther sat back quickly. “We got invited to a Christmas party.”

They sat in the car for a few minutes until Allison finally spoke, “we might as well go in, I’m sure they saw us pull up.” The brothers silently complied. The group walked up the path to the house and Luther rang the doorbell.

The door swung open and they saw a man in his late 50s with salt and pepper hair wearing a bright red and green sweater with the word “Mickey” stitched into it. “Welcome!” He smiled and stepped forward, throwing his arms around a very surprised Luther. Stepping back, he left his hands on Luther’s arms. “You must be Luther. Minnie said you were big, but darn it boy, I didn’t expect this!” He stepped around Luther and bee lined to scoop Allison into a bear hug to rival the one Luther received. As he let go, she couldn’t help but smile at the man’s overt friendliness. “I’m Mickey, you must be…”

“Allison.”

“Allison, welcome!”

Five attempted to dodge the man’s hug but was unsuccessful. He disappeared into the man’s arms, awkwardly holding on to Delores until it thankfully ended. Mickey didn’t seem phased. “You have to be Number Five. You know how I know?” Five shook his head and Mickey smiled and winked at the boy. “You’re the only one left!” He walked back into the house and motioned for them all to follow. “Come on in…meet the family!”

He led them to a large sitting room full of people. Each and every one of them was wearing a sweater just like Mickey’s. Each one bearing the name of the wearer. As they walked into the room, a teen girl ran out of the kitchen with a can of Mt Dew in her hand. She passed through the group and stopped by Five. “All the kids are downstairs!” She said with a smile.

“Thanks, I’ll be sure not to go down there.” The girl frowned and left to join the other kids.

An older woman came out of the kitchen. She looked like a stereotypical grandmother. Short and round, wearing a Christmas apron over her sweater identifying her as Minnie. ‘Jesus’ thought Five, ‘Mickey and Minnie, you’ve got to be kidding me.’ She walked over to the group slowly. “Luther?” He nodded and Minnie took him into a hug, just like Mickey did. “Five?” She put her arms around him as well, but her hugs were different, gentler. The whole room got very quiet while she met her boys.

Minnie turned to the rest of the room and stood between Luther and Five. “Everyone, I’d like you to meet my sons…Luther and Number Five. She turned to Allison, “I’m sorry dear, I didn’t get your name.”

“I’m Allison. I’m Luther’s…” She looked at him, “Friend.”

One of the men in the room (Dave, according to his sweater) spoke up. “Who’s your lady friend, son?” The woman beside him (Lisa), gently poked him with her elbow while shushing the man.

Five looked down at Delores and back up at Dave and wrinkled his brow. “This is Delores. And I’m 58.” Dave’s eyes widened and Minnie stepped in. “Five has a very interesting story, and there will be time for questions later, but first…let’s eat!”

Dinner went relatively smooth. Mickey did most of the talking, explaining how he and Minnie got married at 18, 40 years ago. Five shifted in his seat as he realized that he was the same age as his mother. He went on to explain that after having their two girls (Mary and Alice), they weren’t sure if they wanted more kids. One day, out of the blue, Minnie doubled over in pain and her belly grew and grew until ‘surprise!’ twins!

“We didn’t know what to do. Both of our girls were in school and we hadn’t really planned for another child just yet. Plus, the fact that this was clearly not a natural conception.”

The whole table sat in silence as Minnie took over the story. “We were so scared. We were trying to decide what to do when Mr Hargreeves came to see us.” Luther, Five and Allison straightened up instinctively at the mention of his name. “He explained that you two were special and that you would need special care that I couldn’t provide.” She looked at them, her eyes pleading for forgiveness. “We just wanted you to be taken care of.”

“He offered us money.” Mickey interjected. “We told him to keep it. We just wanted to know that you were ok.”

Luther looked at Five and then back to the couple. “You didn’t take the money?”

“No. We just had the contract say that he would keep us updated on your lives. Every year, on your birthday we’d receive a letter. They were pretty cold. Nothing about your hobbies or friends, just that ‘Number 1 is exceeding in this, or failing at that, and Number Five is learning this, and refusing to practice that.”

“We got letters like that every year. They didn’t tell us much about you as people, but we figured as long as we got them, you were alive and healthy.” Minnie spoke, trying to force a smile, “on your 14th birthday, the letters stopped mentioning Number Five.” Five looked down at his plate. “We tried to get a hold of Mr Hargreeves to find out what happened, but we had no luck. Due to the no contact order we had to sign, we couldn’t drive down and ask…we just had to wonder.”

“At 18, the letters stopped completely.” Mickey looked at Luther. “We followed you as best we could. News stories and profiles about your moon mission, anything we could find. Then, just when we were starting to think we’d never know what happened to you…you called.”

At that point, Luther took over. He told the family about their powers, the others at the academy, and how he got his current physique. Five told about his attempt at time travel, his life with Delores and his miscalculation leading to his current physical age. (he left out the apocalypse and the fact that he was a very successful assassin, they didn’t need to deal with that just yet).

“45 years?” A young man at the other end of the table (Bill, according to the sweater) said. “Damn.” He seemed to speak for the whole family as the entire table sat in silence for a few minutes, both old family members and new, taking in all that was said. Finally, the silence was broken by Dave, thankfully asking… “Who needs a drink?”

Dave went to the bar in the sitting room and grabbed a bottle of scotch. He started pouring for anyone who put a glass in front of him. He stopped when he looked down to see Five holding an empty glass out. He reminded himself of the age of the young-looking man, smiled and poured.

The rest of the evening carried on without incident. With Luther and Allison enjoying Minnie’s tour of the house and photo albums and Five drinking with his Uncles, telling stories about his life with the Commission (Five wasn’t sure if they believed him or not…they were all pretty drunk). The party started to dwindle as each family said their goodbyes and hugs and phone numbers were exchanged, leaving Minnie, Mickey and their houseguests.

Minnie smiled as she waved to the last of her family as they pulled out of the drive, then turned back to the now empty feeling house. “Well, I’m afraid that’s it for me, this old broad has to get her beauty sleep.” She motioned for the rest of them to head up stairs. “Come on, I’ll show you to your rooms.”

Luther, Allison, and Five followed up the stairs after her and as they walked down the hall she stopped and turned around. “I figured you two in this one, it’s the only spare with a full-sized bed.”

Luther and Allison turned to look at each other and Luther blushed, “Oh, we’re not…”

“You’re not?! Oh well the way you two look at each other, you could have fooled me.” She winked at them and ushered Luther into the room closing the door behind her leaving Allison and Five in the hallway.

Luther set his bag down as Minnie walked up and put a gentle hand on his arm. “You know, I was lucky. Mickey and I found each other at a very young age, and we knew from the start that we were meant for each other.” Luther listened carefully, trying not to blush at what she was saying. “What I’m saying is that love doesn’t come along every day and a lot of people would kill to have it. Don’t waste it on some silly notion that since the two of you were raised in the same hell hole, pardon my language, that you owe it to the world to act as siblings.” She tilted her head and grinned. “Plus, I have a suspicion that these feelings are not new?”

“No, they’re not.”

“Well, that’s just my two cents.” She patted his arm and turned to leave. “Take it or leave it.” She opened the door and stopped, turning back to him. “I’ll love you no matter what you do.” She exited into the hall and was off to show the others to their rooms as tears welled up in the big man’s eyes and he walked over and shut the door. He had a lot to think about.

As they reached the next door, Minnie looked to Allison. “This was Mary’s room, she’s such a fan of yours, I’m sure she would be delighted if you slept here.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Valentine.”

“Oh dear, call me Minnie,” she gave her a hug and Allison retreated into the room, leaving Five and Minnie alone. 

At the last door, Minnie opened it and ushered Five inside. He walked over to the bed, put down his bag and set Delores on a chair in the corner of the room.

“She’s been with you a long time, huh?”

“Nearly 50 years.”

Minnie sat on the bed and patted the spot next to her. Five had no reason to trust this person that he just met, but he had one too many drinks and figured, ‘what the hell.’ He sat down and looked at his mother, waiting for what she had to say.

“Being alone is hard. No one likes it. Even the most introverted people need to have some contact every now and then to keep their sanity. I can’t imagine the life you lived. The world you had to survive, knowing that there would be no one coming for you, no one to help you, or love you.” Five looked at the ground as she talked, concentrating on the wood floor, anything to not meet her eyes. “I can see how Delores was good for you. It was someone to talk to, someone to share with, someone to hold.”

Minnie put her arm around his shoulders. Anyone else, he would have shrugged the arm off, but not her. Not his mother. “Maybe…just maybe. You might think about whether or not you still need her.” Five turned his head sharply to look her in the eyes, a mix of confusion and a bit of anger on his face. “Delores was there for you. She was your family, your friends, even your love.” He gave her the tiniest of nods. “Well guess what? You have those things now. You have a family, right here and back at the mansion, you have friends at this house and surely other places if you would put yourself out there.” She pulled her arm back and reached up to brush a few strands of hair off his face. “And you are a smart, unique, and handsome young man. In a few years, when you can meet some age appropriate girls who won’t bore you to tears, I’m sure you will find love easily.”

Five’s eyes welled up as he looked at this woman. This woman who two weeks ago wasn’t sure he even existed. She had shown him more love in these past few minutes than he got in his first 13 years, hell, in his whole 58. He wasn’t sure what he could possibly say that could even begin to repay her for everything he received that night. In the end he cautiously pulled her into a hug and whispered into her ear, “I love you, Mom.”

The next morning, everyone was outside next to the car saying their goodbyes. Hugs were exchanged all around and they climbed into the car, Allison in the drivers seat this time around. As they pulled out, Luther turned around in the passenger seat to wave through the back window at Minnie and Mickey who were watching the car drive away. He looked down and shot a look at Five. “Oh shit! We forgot Delores!” Allison hit the breaks and Five just told her to keep going. As she started back up again, Five explained, “She’s in Mom’s attic. She told me I could keep her there for as long as I wanted.” He looked out the window at the passing trees and for the first time was confident that this life was going to be good. He was going to make sure of it. “I don’t need her anymore.”

One month later, Klaus walked into the kitchen with a stack of mail in his hand and a big box under his arm. “I come bearing gifts!” He distributed the letters to the rightful parties and set the box on the table in front of Luther and Five. “It’s from your Mommy.”

Luther ignored his brother and grabbed a knife to open the box. Inside was a note and two wrapped Christmas gifts. As Five took out his gift, Luther read the note, “Dear boys, I hope you don’t mind this being a bit late, you snuck up on us this Christmas so I didn’t have time to get you anything. Here’s a little something to welcome you to the family. Love, Mom.” He put the letter down and looked at Five, before they both ripped into the paper to see shirt boxes. They opened the boxes, and each pulled out a bright green and red Christmas sweater, nearly identical, except for the size and the wording on front, ‘Five’ and ‘Luther.’ Diego and Klaus immediately started laughing at the look on Five’s face, a mix of anger and embarrassment. Luther held his up to him and marveled that she took the time to make one big enough for him, and Allison smiled, knowing that her brother…and her boyfriend finally had family, and she wondered if she would be so lucky if she searched for her Mom too.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> Just in case anyone was wondering where I came up with the names of the mothers...
> 
> Vanya's - Smirnov means "calm, obedient, quiet"  
> Ben's - Cheong mean "quiet, gentle"  
> Diego's - Guerrero means "warrior"  
> Allison's - Aster means "star"  
> Klaus' - Morana means "death"  
> Luther and Five's - Minerva means "of the mind, intellect" and Valentine means "strong, vigorous, healthy"


End file.
